I Want To Be There
by MilkM0nster
Summary: Leo needs some good ol' TLC. Ezio is willing to give it. fluff.


**a little fluffy drabble inspired by Smashing Pumpkins' Tarantula. I don't not own AC2**. **If I did this really would have happened.**

* * *

I want to be there when you're

Happy.

I want to love you when you're

Sad.

* * *

The moon hung low and bright in the Venetian sky, mingling peaceably with the stars as the land below was ruffled with low shouts and bellows.

The guards had been warned the _condannare l'assassino di bastardo_ would try and make off with the new Doge, but they hadn't known that it would have a damned _pistola_! The assassination had gone surprisingly well, catching everyone off guard. The Doge had been shot, the small bullet ripping through his chest, nicking one of his lungs. He had died within minutes.

They chased the assassin as far as the canal, where they watched with hopeless eyes as it swam away.

Some things just went perfectly wrong for the guards of Venezia.

* * *

Ezio dropped down onto the balcony of Leonardo's workshop, rubbing his shoulder length hair with bloodied fingers to try and dry it a bit faster. He shoved the small window open with his shoulder blade, glancing about the small dark room. In comparison to Leonardo's working space, the artist's living space was ridiculously small, only enough room for a small dresser and a decent sized bed. Ezio shook his head, a small smile coming to his lips as he slipped out of the room to the stairs.

"Leonardo?" he called out the artist's name softly, his sharp eyes flicking around the room. This room was dark as well. The usual cluster of candles the artist had lit at his work-table were dead, their wicks burned black and brittle. Ezio frowned. This wasn't Leonardo's usual behavior.

He felt something change in his sight, and automatically the room shifted from pale gray darkness to utter black, a distinguished shape of a person slumped in a glowing white chair illuminated a bright blue adjacent from his position. Ezio tilted his head.

"Leonardo…? _Amico mio_, what is wrong?"

Ezio heard a hearty sigh, and saw the blue shape move into a proper sitting stance, arms dangling down by the chair sides.

"Ezio, so good to see you're alive," the artist's tone betrayed his words. He was obviously upset with something. Ezio went over to his friend, squatting down beside the chair, Eagle Vision flicking off. He could vaguely see Leonardo's face staring down at him, a weak smile on his lips. Ezio frowned again.

"What is wrong?" Ezio repeated, reaching up and taking his friend's hand. His gloved fingertips were met with a glass of wine. Ezio blinked. He didn't know Leonardo drank.

"Oh, nothing of particular importance…" Leonardo muttered with false joviality, waving his wine glass despondently before taking a deep drink of the dark red liquid. "Just had my heart stomped on again by someone I foolishly assumed I could trust!" Leonardo cried out abruptly, his arm shooting out and tossing his glass against the wall. The glass tinkled onto the floor with soft sounds of abuse.

Ezio winced. He had never seen Leonardo like this before, angered and albeit drunk. The artist's usually repressed emotions of discontent poured freely out in his words and agitated motions. Ezio could barely see the tears spilling down Leonardo's face.

"That damned bastard Salai left me! Up and left, gone, just like that! No warning, no reason, took what florins I had and took off out of town!" Leonardo keeled forward, resting his head in his hands, shaking it softly. He carded his fingers through his hair. "I called him Salai for good reason, Ezio. I called him Salai because he always was a little Devil. He made my time with him a living hell. _Che cosa_, I'm such a fool…"

Ezio sat back on his haunches, resting his chin on the arm of Leonardo's chair. He shook his head in disagreement.

"Leonardo, you are not a fool. You are a brilliant man. Salai is the fool. He took a great chance to learn from one of _Italia's_ most wonderful artists and inventors and tossed it aside. Do not deem yourself the fool before you have taken in regard Salai's actions, _amico mio_. " He reached up and gently stroked Leonardo's arm, wincing when he was shoved off. Leonardo would not take any of Ezio's compliments.

"Ezio, you fail to see the situation. I knew Salai would do something like this. I anticipated it, dreaded it, yet I did nothing to stop it, nor prepare myself. Instead of drowning my sorrows in wine, I should've just accepted it." He rubbed the crease in his brow with paint-stained fingers, sighing heavily.

Ezio looked away, worrying his lower lip with his teeth. He didn't know what to do someone cried. Situations like these were the bane of Ezio's being. He himself knew how to handle the mental pain, but when others around him did not, he was lost.

"Leonardo…" he cleared his throat softly. "Is there anything I can do for you, _amico_? Can I get you anything, maybe… I-I should leave?"

Leonardo winced. That word again. He took hold of Ezio's forearm, his face desperate.

"No, Ezio, please don't leave me as well!" he keened, resting his head on Ezio's shoulder, awkwardly wrapping his other arm around the young Assassin's shoulders. "Not you too, my pet. I couldn't bear it."

Ezio stiffened at the feeling of his friend wrapping his arms around him, holding him tightly against his chest. Ezio sighed, smiling into the fabric of Leonardo's blouse.

"Of course, _mio leone_. I would never leave you." He reached up and languidly stroked Leonardo's hair, sifting his fingers through the tawny strands. Leonardo tightened his hold minutely, breathing in the heady scent of copper and hay. Ezio murmured softly, his fingers never faltering in their idle caresses.

"I want to be there when you're happy, and I will always love you when you're sad. "

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**Like it? Hate it? Have cavities from the sweetness? Reviews would be niiice. **


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